Ecological plantbased farming is environmentally beneficial and, I believe, ethically imperative: The animals exploited for food are worthy of empathy and moral consideration.

Unfortunately, U.S. culture tends to associate noncorporate farming with a pastoral ideal that includes domestic animals—think Old McDonald. Ranching, in particular, has gained proponents in the food movement, who claim that regenerative grazing is crucial to saving us from climate disaster.

Adherents of this view argue that grazing systems can mimic natural ecology and regenerate eroded soils, allowing them to sequester carbon. Native herbivores (such as bison and elk) used to fulfill a key ecological role in maintaining healthy grasslands, the argument goes, and since they have disappeared, cows are our next best bet.

But to make the leap from “herbivores are necessary” to “ranching is necessary” is absurd. As ecologist George Wuerthner points out, “There are plenty of native herbivores, though most ranchers either ignore them or are completely ignorant of their existence.”

Native herbivores include not just bison and elk, but smaller animals, such as gophers.

When ranchers are aware of them, they tend to prioritize their own commercial interests. In Yellowstone, there is a yearly bison cull to protect cattle from disease and competition. Point Reyes National Seashore is the only national park home to the native tule elk, yet local ranchers have lobbied for a current bill that calls for culling the elk.

All this connects to our history of settler colonialism. Alfred Crosby coined the term “ecological imperialism” to describe how European settlement transformed the ecology of the New World, as native flora and fauna were pushed out by farm animals and other species introduced by colonists. In the West, the government handed forcibly depopulated lands to settlers for cattle ranches, a legacy that has shaped our pro-ranching culture. It is time we acknowledge that Crosby’s ecological imperialism is ongoing.

As a long-time food activist and supporter of animal liberation, I increasingly found the food movement’s promotion of animal agriculture objectionable. In 2015, I founded the annual People’s Harvest Forum to promote ecological farming without compromising my ethics. The goal is not to promote veganism as the solution to environmental or social issues; rather, veganism sets the ethical parameters of potential solutions. We exclude cows and pigs from farming the same way others in this country automatically exclude cats and dogs; we can think of no valid reason to treat these animals differently.

My organization shares a key demand with others in the food movement: agroecology. In its simplest definition, agroecology is the application of ecological principles to agriculture, including, for instance, diversifying crops and recycling nutrients in closedlooped systems. In practice, most agroecological farms integrate livestock with crops, and some believe this is necessary. But agroecological techniques can be applied to plantbased farming as well.

As I’ve delved more into vegan organic farming, known as “veganic,” I’ve learned that domesticated animals do not contribute anything irreplaceable to farming or to ecosystems. Vegan agroecologists build soil fertility through plant-based methods, such as green manures (made from nitrogen-fixing crops), rather than through dung from domesticated animals; they also increase biodiversity on their farms, providing habitat for helpful insects and other wildlife. A veganic farm is not a space without animals, it is simply one without commodified animals.

Even if it works, regenerative grazing isn’t necessary: We can create veganic systems that emit less carbon, create less conflict with wildlife and still regenerate soils. A transition to veganic farming can also free up grazing and feed-crop land for rewilding and the protection of forests—which, don’t forget, are valuable carbon sinks.

Far from mutually exclusive, animal liberation and ecological farming are the building blocks of a climate-friendly food system. We can bring “farm animals” into our circle of compassion as we grow food in harmony with our ecosystems.

Please tell me why ranchers cull elk and dear? Why do they kill of wolves and coyotes? Also explain why plant based fertilizer has higher oxygen levels, no nitrate runoff, and more carbon? You claim a lack of biodiversity but think about the fact that cow food is simply plants. Then I ask how can a rancher not overgraze when the incentive economically is to meat demand for beef? And were back with why we have factory farms.

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Posted by Lela T. Davis on 2018-11-25 02:57:48

Such is the case with vegan agro-ecology. Such agro-ecology in reality doesn't exist since the food web includes bacteria, fungi, nematodes, insects, worms, small mammals, reptiles, etc that all eat one another. The soil food web is the basis for many food chains. Moreover, pseudo-vegan agro-ecology is a sub-optimal system, since green manures alone provide around a third of the microbiology as systems with manures. In nature the microflora of animals and the soil microbiota are interconnected. So when animals poop, pee and salivate, they increase the biodiversity and amount of the soil biota. Diversity and quantity are very important since increase in soil from both decomposition and microbial pump pathways are largely microbial poop and necromass. That is how soil is built. Lesser amounts and less diversity, as in sub-optimal "vegan" systems, means much less accumulation of new soil (particularly along the A/B horizon) as well as less soil microbiology for carbon utilization and sequestration.

Now one of the goals of regenerative grazing is greater biodiversity below ground and above ground. As soil health and land is regenerated, the carrying capacity of the land is increased because healthy soils, that retain more water, can grow more plants and are more drought resilient.. So yes, this does mean greater capacity for more cattle. But it also means more capacity for other wildlife. And since regenerative grazing keeps all the cattle in herds, and gives ground a lot of time to recover, cattle on regeneratively grazed land only occupy a small portion of a ranch at any one time, often less than one percent of the land. What occupies the rest of the land? Elk, deer, foxes, nesting birds, gophers, snakes, frogs, wild bees. Many of the things killed for crop agriculture. Regenerative ranches are very much nature preserves.

Posted by LA Chefs column on 2018-11-23 23:27:31

Grasslands sequester more carbon in the soil than forests do in their biomass & soil. Grazing animals that co-evolved with grasslands as well as large herbivores kept grassland and savannas from seceding into becoming forests. So did indigenous tribes with controlled burns after all the large megafauna were gone. Perpetuating the myth of forest is something vegans and rewilders are wont to do. A lot of land was NEVER forest.

Wild ruminant populations were also controlled by predators. Roughly a third of all bison calves were taken by wolves. So were extra males and older animals. Wolves and grizzlies didn't care about animal rights. Nature is about balance. When wild ruminants populations exceed the carrying capacity of the land, without predatory pressure, they overgraze the land. No one in Point Reyes National Seashore is reintroducing predator populations in those areas. Now bison populations are being restored, in small part, because they're a food source. Like certain domesticated animals (pigs, cattle, and chickens) bison have always been viewed as a source of meat and fat. Dogs and cats were original domesticated for other reasons like hunting partners, sled dogs, rodent control, human and livestock protection...and more recently as companion animals. So the carnist argument, that ignores this context, is a stupid one especially since it tries to reduce these long histories of selective breeding to "cultural preference." Sadly the modus operandi of the vegan mind seems to be gross over simplification.

Posted by LA Chefs column on 2018-11-23 23:27:11

Grasslands sequester more carbon in the soil than forests do in their biomass & soil. Grazing animals that co-evolved with grasslands as well as large herbivores kept grassland and savannas from seceding into becoming forests. So did indigenous tribes with controlled burns after all the large megafauna were gone. Perpetuating the myth of forest is something vegans and rewilders are wont to do. A lot of land was NEVER forest.

Wild ruminant populations were also controlled by predators. Roughly a third of all bison calves were taken by wolves. So were extra males and older animals. Wolves and grizzlies didn't care about animal rights. Nature is about balance. When wild ruminants populations exceed the carrying capacity of the land, without predatory pressure, they overgraze the land. No one in Point Reyes National Seashore is reintroducing predator populations in those areas. Now bison populations are being restored, in small part, because they're a food source. Like certain domesticated animals (pigs, cattle, and chickens) bison have always been viewed as a source of meat and fat. Dogs and cats were original domesticated for other reasons like hunting partners, sled dogs, rodent control, human and livestock protection...and more recently as companion animals. So the carnist argument, that ignores this context, is a stupid one especially since it tries to reduce these long histories of selective breeding to "cultural preference." Sadly the modus operandi of the vegan mind seems to be gross over simplification.

Such is also the case with vegan agro-ecology. Such agro-ecology in reality doesn't exist since the food web includes bacteria, fungi, nematodes, insects, worms, small mammals, reptiles, etc that all eat one another. The soil food web is the basis for many food chains. Moreover, pseudo-vegan agro-ecology is a sub-optimal system, since green manures alone provide around a third of the microbiology as systems with manures. In nature the microflora of animals and the soil microbiota are interconnected. So when animals poop, pee and salivate, they increase the biodiversity and amount of the soil biota. Diversity and quantity are very important since increase in soil from both decomposition and microbial pump pathways are largely microbial poop and necromass. That is how soil is built. Lesser amounts and less diversity, as in sub-optimal "vegan" systems, means much less accumulation of new soil (particularly along the A/B horizon) as well as less soil microbiology for carbon utilization and sequestration.

Now one of the goals of regenerative grazing is greater biodiversity below ground and above ground. As soil health and land is regenerated, the carrying capacity of the land is increased because healthy soils, that retain more water, can grow more plants and are more drought resilient.. So yes, this does mean greater capacity for more cattle. But it also means more capacity for other wildlife. And since regenerative grazing keeps all the cattle in herds, and gives ground a lot of time to recover, cattle on regeneratively grazed land only occupy a small portion of a ranch at any one time, often less than one percent of the land. What occupies the rest of the land? Elk, deer, foxes, nesting birds, gophers, snakes, frogs, wild bees. Many of the things killed for crop agriculture. Regenerative ranches are very much nature preserves.